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Jericho's Trial
On the heels of Zoe's trial, as soon as the verdict has been agreed upon, comes the trial of Jericho Pierce, also guilty of diablerizing his sire - and, as fate would have it, within two weeks of when Zoe diablerized hers. What a world. What a city. This time, however, Aikiko doesn't need to undergo the harrowing experience of reliving the memory: she has camera footage from Cabot Estate's holding cell, where Jericho has been kept in torpor for several months. A big television is wheeled into the Council room, and Aikiko cues the footage. To begin with there is only sound, the screen blank. "Mon Ange? Where are we...?" A man's voice. Jericho's. "I'm afraid not," Aikiko replies. "Raine would usually do this, but she didn't feel that she could be objective when it comes to you. It's Aikiko. You're in the holding cell at Cabot Estate. You've been arrested for committing Amaranth. You may remember shoving a sword through the Hound a couple of times when we came to arrest you." A soft 'heh' sound. "I wasn't expecting him to be that fast, caught me by surprise so I wasn't able to get my blade in time... You woke me... I imagine my sentencing is to be on this night then? How did you find out if I might ask?" Sentencing might take some debate, but you deserve a chance to speak in your own defense. A couple of things, before we go any further: this conversation is being recorded, both for audio alone and for audio and vision. The former will work. The latter will only work if you drop the Lost Visage. I suggest you do. You've already blown your first chance at cooperation, and if you're to get any sympathy from those who will decide your fate, you shouldn't blow this one. This room is not hard to escape from. If you do, you will be added to the Red List, and your name and description will be circulated to every city on the Eastern Seabord, and filter out from there. As for how we found out... if you commit the single most heinous crime in Kindred society, /telling/ someone you have done so is a terrible idea. You told. Once two people know something it's no longer a secret." Now there's video, the feeds obviously spliced together with the other for maximum comprehensibility. Jericho sits on the bed in the holding cell of Cabot Estate, Aikiko perched on the edge of it next to him. "So it was Killigrew then," he sighs. "I can't say I'm surprised, we had a falling out and I hurt her. She was in a dangerous mindset after that, is she alright?" Moving to the edge of the bed he pushes himself to his feet and stands up, taking a few steps into the middle of the room with his hands held behind his back before turning back to look down to Aikiko. "So, how do we continue from here then Sheriff?" "Zoe Killigrew is also on trial for Amaranth, as well as for colluding with the Strix in its plan to create a blood plague that would potentially wipe out our entire society. She hasn't been 'alright' since long before her Embrace," Aikiko replies, her voice still quiet. She stands as well, her dark eyes compassionate. "I have laid open your mind with Auspex, Jericho, and lived the memory of your crime. We are Kindred - finding out the truth of what happened is considerably easier for us. Your guilt is not in question. That said, I invite you to tell the story of what happened and why, so that I may present it to the Council." "I never knew her before her Embrace, so I wouldn't know." Jericho states, "I saved my Sire, before I even knew I was to become her childe. She was in a torpor-like state and wouldn't wake.. The Shadow can explain that better than I. But the point I first conversed with my Sire in the Dreamscape which is where I made her a promise. A promise which I said I would carry out no matter the cost, part of that cost just so happened to be her heartsblood." His expression is blank as he speaks, as if he knows whatever he says has no weight in what is to become of him. "The Shadow asked me to wait while he ''tried to figure out a way to wake her. They didn't understand there was no time to wait, I needed a teacher and a way to develop powers of the blood within my veins. During my time as a ghoul I heard rumors of Amaranth and that if you were to comsume the very essence of a Kindred in such a manner they'd speak to you, granted they also wished for your death.. but the point is that was the only way I could think of to learn what I needed as quickly as possible."'' Aikiko listens, pausing a moment before she speaks. "You conversed with your Sire in the Dreamscape, you said. Did you not then ''have a teacher? And, in fact, kill the only person who could reliably teach you, on the basis of a rumor that eating her soul might let you hear her voice - and, as you just said, wish for your death and almost certainly attempt to deliberately lead you astray? It sounds to me as though you murdered your teacher on the hope of a quick fix that could just as easily have made her lie to you and vastly impede your ability to master the skills of your shared blood."'' "We're not here to argue specifics, if you want an answer more to the point you have my express permission to dig through every memory I have. I'd also recommend doing so with the Shadow about the times they were with me." Jericho says rather pointedly, "Why are we even having this discussion? As you said my guilt is unquestionable and the penalty for my crime is death, it has been since as long as any of the Kindred can remember. There is no point in continued questioning if you only seek to get my voice and form on tape." Moving his hands from behind his back he then crosses them over his chest, looking to Aikiko he shakes his head. "I mastered the skills of my own blood.. even if I wasn't able to complete my promise to my Sire, I still stopped the Dreamkeeper from coming into this world fully and saved someone who later become a member of my family. If I never committed my crime I would have never had her come into my life and as such I wouldn't change my actions, I just hope Mon Ange will continue to care for her when I'm gone.." "We are having this discussion so that you have an opportunity to tell your side of the story. It is part of my role to anticipate the questions your judges might have, so that your answers are on record for them." Aikiko regards him levelly. "If I understand you correctly, you made the deliberate choice to commit Amaranth, you were under no duress to do so beyond your own impatience, and you do not regret your actions. Is there anything else you would wish known by those who deliberate what is to happen to you?" "You don't." Jericho states with a snarl as his beasts pushes it's way to the fore. "You don't understand at all it seems, Sheriff! This discussion is pointless, I committed the crime and was found guilty. No amount of questions asked of me or answers given by me will change the fact that by the end of all this I'll be little more then a pile of ash on the ground, dead. What more do these people who are to deliberate over what is to happen to me need to know? If they can't even punish a breach of the Third Tradition without asking a million questions that serve little to no purpose in the end, why I ask you are they even given the right to do so?" At the end of his words he manages to push the beast back into its cage, for now. "That will suffice," Aikiko replies, her voice still quiet but now tense. "We're done here."